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Tim Hudak tries a new makeover — policy over personality: Cohn

Tim Hudak has been reconfirmed as leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. And resurrected as leader of his not-always-loyal Tories.

Party leader Tim Hudak, seen with his wife, Deb Hutton, shakes hands with former premier Mike Harris at the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario policy convention in London on Saturday. (Dave Chidley / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Now, the people of Ontario will cast the final judgment. Until the next election, Hudak remains the anointed one, destined to lead the Tories out of the political wilderness after a decade out of power.

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A weekend convention here was supposed to be the crucible for pre-election policy-making, not personality baiting. But questions from the floor kept returning to Hudak’s political liabilities — his inability to connect with voters, his failure to translate on television, a string of byelection losses, and his low personal ratings even as the Progressive Conservative brand tops the polls.

He answered them by foregoing a teleprompter, eschewing a text, abandoning the podium, and speaking extemporaneously for 40 minutes.

“Friends, this is a convention that is going to make history,” he intoned gravely.

Had delegates voted to decapitate their leader, it would certainly have been historic. That they didn’t means Hudak still has a future.

He promised delegates a “winning, bold, optimistic conservative platform” once the weekend deliberations are complete: A right-wing, anti-union, pro-privatization platform drawn from 14 “white papers” produced so far.

And a sharper mission statement proclaiming why he wants to lead Ontario, not just the opposition:

“Friends, I want to be premier because I believe our destiny in Ontario is being first in jobs and last in debt,” he asserted. “That’s the job I want, that’s the mission I’m prepared to lead.”

In a spontaneous Q & A with a sometimes skeptical crowd, Hudak parried questions about his lack of traction. One delegate worried that he is alienating the labour movement with his sharp rhetoric against “union bosses.” Another wondered aloud if he has what it takes to win.

“Look, polls go up and down,” he said soothingly. “A leader doesn’t follow the polls, a leader leads and then the polls follow him.”

Humanizing himself with calculated purpose, the Tory leader cracked self-deprecating jokes and proffered crowd-pleasing shout-outs: to his parents, wife, 5-year-old daughter, and former premier Mike Harris (though not his unwaveringly loyal dog, Tavish).

Wired for sound, he descended the stage to walk through the crowd like a talk-show host. After a halting start, he finished with a standing ovation and chants of “Let Tim lead!”

This is not Hudak’s first attempted makeover to fend off a takeover. After his last election defeat, and again at his last leadership review in early 2012, he solemnly promised to show his lighter side. Like his Liberal and NDP rivals, he has tapped into image consultants. The reincarnation of Tim Hudak remains a work in progress.

Even if delegates haven’t given up on him, his own strategists have correctly concluded that Hudak will never win an election on personality alone. Premier Kathleen Wynne and the NDP’s Andrea Horwath come across as more authentic, so the Tories must find another way to gain the trust of voters.

They believe policy will carry the day if voters are given a clear choice. Rather than a personality contest, the Tories want to win a competition of economic ideas, sharply delineated from the failures of left-leaning New Democrats and centrist Liberals. Hudak’s team is promising yet more provocative ideas in the days ahead.

Despite the leader’s public promise to raise his personal game, there wasn’t much buzz in the halls about any bravura performance or inspirational leadership. Rather, the watchwords were loyalty and unity. Tories recognize this is no time for internecine carping.

Like his last leadership review, this was Hudak’s chance to inspire his most loyal partisans, for if he cannot persuasively lead them into battle he will not win over the rest of Ontario in an election. This time, he had a good weekend, but not a great one. Neither reviled nor revered, he survived to fight another election day.

The more fatalistic among Tory delegates are resigned to Hudak’s image problem — and cling to the hope that it will take care of itself if and when he wins the next campaign. They note that politicians rarely win much love in opposition, but always seem to wear power with aplomb once they enter the premier’s office.

They have a point (though it doesn’t explain Horwath’s better numbers). Perhaps their not-so-secret plan is to triumph in the popularity contest without ever entering it — by first winning an election, and only then being deemed to have a winning personality. And to achieve victory not with a hidden agenda, but an aggressive one.

It seems an unconventional reversal of the traditional winning formula. But in politics, as in personal redemptions, miracles have a way of happening.

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